


Forgive Me If I've Said Too Much

by bar2d2s



Category: The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Just bros being bros, M/M, and that usual glut of character exposition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-11 15:00:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11150838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bar2d2s/pseuds/bar2d2s
Summary: “You don’t have a crush on Captain Cold though, right?”Axel has friends outside of the Rogues and sometimes, they talk about things.





	Forgive Me If I've Said Too Much

Just after the divorce was finalized, Axel’s mother decided to take him on a road trip to Gotham City.

“I’ll take care of everything else, but I need _you_  to make us a bunch of mix CDs for the car.” She gave him two weeks to get the CDs together.

Axel didn’t have a lot of his own CDs, so he mostly used hers, as well as the few his father had left behind. The result ended up being an eclectic mix of hard rock, disco, new wave, and mid-90s chart toppers.

They ended up having a good time. He learned stuff about his mom that he’d never thought to ask before, like what she went to college for (marine biology), and how she’d met his dad (a club).

“He got a black eye trying to crowd surf while my band was playing.”

“You were in a _band_?!”

“Yup. We were called the Chest Hares, and our gimmick was that we all wore bunny ears and tails over our clothes. I played the bass.”

It was a great trip, even if they ended up blowing out a tire on the way back, in the middle of _friggin nowhere_. Axel’s newfound closeness with his mother helped the house not feel as empty when they got home.

He thinks about her a lot, especially when he has a problem he can’t talk to the Rogues about. He’d cut off all contact with his mom after the first time the Flash hauled him in. She didn’t need to be bothered with his shit anymore, and it’s not like he was some kid that needed to be babied. Still, it would have been nice to have a level head to bounce things off of.

Instead, he has Joey.

Joey, Tar Pit, is a good friend for many reasons. First, and most importantly, he loves to be loud and break things. The Rogues may be blue collar criminals, but they’ve also got a reputation to uphold. Tar Pit hasn’t been around as long, not to mention that he’s a eight-foot tar monster. He doesn’t much care what people think of him, for the most part. But he likes Axel, and he likes that Axel is always down to knock over a business just for the hell of it. He also likes that Axel is willing to hang out with him and not complain about the smell. They’re bros. They can talk about stuff.

So that’s what they do after every job, find a nice spot somewhere outside the city and just hang. Split the take, if there is one. What Joey needs with money, Axel isn’t entirely sure. He splits the money up equally anyway, and waits for a pause in Joey’s story about the time when he was a kid and his brother’s friends almost drowned him.

“What do you do when you have a crush on someone?”

It’s always fun to watch Joey’s eye holes slow-blink, when he’s trying to figure out if Axel actually said what he’d thought he’d said. Once he realized that yes, Axel was trying to ask him for dating advice, Joey coughed. It sounded like gravel being rolled around in a dryer.

“Uh, I guess it depends. The person like you back?”

Axel had pulled a roll of Bubble Tape from his bag, ripping off a couple of strips before he realized that Joey couldn’t chew gum. No teeth. He popped both in his mouth and chewed quietly for a while. 

“Yeah, we were definitely flirting the other day. He’s, uh, he’s a little older than me, though.” It was the first time Axel had ever dropped the H bomb. Joey had always talked about girls he followed on Instagram, and the couple of strippers he’d dated back when he worked for his brother, and how much he missed girls in general. He never really noticed that Axel didn’t offer up any stories of his own. Joey was uncharacteristically quiet for way too long before he spoke again.

“You don’t have a crush on Captain Cold though, right?” Axel choked on his gum.

“Holy shit, dude! No! Oh my god ew, no! He’s like, older than my dad.” Probably. Axel had never actually asked Len how old he was, and the police records he’d checked all had different birth dates because of all his fake ID cards. Len was between 40 and 55, though, that was for sure. Way too old for him. Joey looked thoughtful.

“Weather Wizard is pretty young, right?” Now Axel knew his friend was screwing with him.

“He’s like 35. And before you ask, _no_  it’s not Evan, either. It’s, uh. It’s the new Captain Boomerang.” Joey had been at the funeral. He’d seen Owen, Axel had caught him sizing the newest Rogue up once, even.

“Isn’t he 20?” Joey asked, the area that would have been his eyebrows furrowed. “And you’re like, 16...”

“I’m 17 and a half!” Axel replied indignantly. A lie. He’d turned 17 less than a month ago, he just hadn’t told anyone. His age never stopped the Flash from throwing him in Iron Heights, after all. “And Owen’s 19. Besides, the age of consent is 16 in Kansas so-” Joey made a noise like a tire losing air. “What?”

“If you have to quote _actual laws_  at me, man, then you obviously know something weird is up with a 19 year old guy being into you.”

“It’s not weird.” Axel muttered. “I mean, _you_  hang out with me all the time.” Joey was 21, and thought he knew everything.

“Yeah, but I don’t wanna bang you, Ax!” A good point. “How much do you even _know_  about this guy? Do you hang? Has he ever seen your Barry Gibb talk show bit?” Joey had no idea that he’d stolen the routine from Saturday Night Live. He thought it was funny, even though Axel had had to explain who Barry Gibb was the first time he’d done it. “Are you guys even friends, or just people who work together who want to do it?” Ow.

“You’re jumping to a lot of conclusions, y’know.” He grumbled. Because honestly, Axel had _no idea_  what he wanted from Owen. He’d never actually liked anyone in this way before. Did he even _want_  to have sex? At all? It hadn’t ever occurred to him. Maybe it was because he’d never had it, but Axel never saw sex as the endgame thing that could make or break a relationship. And did he like Owen enough to even _want_  a relationship?

He knew that he liked the funny way his stomach felt whenever Owen was around. He liked having Owen in the passenger seat of his car, when the older Rogues sent them on shitty errands together, like getting groceries. He liked how they never argued over the radio stations, and how Owen had no problem just grabbing stuff off shelves he couldn’t reach. The couple of times Owen had complimented him on his tricks had been electric, and left a warm feeling in his bones for days afterwards.

Axel felt safe and happy around Owen. If nothing else, they made a good team.

“But we’re definitely friends. Friends who might kiss one day.” It took a second to recognize Joey’s new noises as laughter. “What _now_?” Joey wiped an imaginary tear away from his eye.

“You’re such a kid. I always forget, but you are _such_  a kid.” There’s an angry flush rising on Axel’s face. He hates being condescended to, especially by a blobby jerk that got his soul-essence stuck in molten tar. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked, defensive. Joey tapped his fingers against the ground, humming to himself. “Joey!”

“I just mean that I keep forgetting you’re a big nerd that’s never even gotten to first base, is all. ‘Friends who might kiss one day’, come _on_ , Axel.” His face was fully red, now. Every day he was alive and drawing breath, Axel wished he was better at hiding how he felt. That’s why he liked his mask so much; his face was _way_  too expressive without it. “I think you guys should talk. At least so you can figure out where you stand.”

That was...surprisingly insightful.

“And when you two get to second base, leave me a voicemail. That’ll be my cue to come in and threaten him, like a good big brother.”

Axel’s knuckles sizzled as Joey’s shoulder melted his gloves on impact. The pain was worth the indignant little yelp Joey made. Sort of.


End file.
